Title: Try These Shoes!

Broad Question: Does shoe design really affect an athlete's jumping height?

Specific Question: Which shoe increases an athlete's jumping height the most no shoes, Osiris's, Nike sneakers, or Jordan basketball shoes?

Variables

Independent Variable: Type of shoe

Dependent Variable: Height jumped (cm)

Variables That Need To Be Controlled: The start of the jumping position and the tester (person)

Hypothesis: It is hypothesized that the Jordan basketball shoes will help increase an athlete's jumping height the most.

Graph of Hypothesis:

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General Plan

Experimental Design:

My experiment will be conducting which shoe makes an athlete jump the highest, no shoes, Osiris shoes, Nike sneakers, or Jordan basketball shoes? I will be conducting my experiment on my driveway. Since most likely you will be using sneakers to jump on pavement, I thought doing the experiment on my paved driveway would work best. I will be the person jumping with each shoe 10 times. I will put a piece of tape on the wall to control where my knees will go so I will be jumping with the same force each time. I am going to have to have somebody in my family helping me measure the height that I jumped with each shoe. I’m going to tape a meter stick to the wall also. After each jump, I will record the how many centimeters that shoes mad me jump on my copy of a spreadsheet that I will make. To document the process I plan to take pictures for proof that I have done it. I will have to print those pictures out so I can put them on my poster. I will record all my data on a Google Doc so I can access it at home and at school.

Materials List:

1. Meter Stick
2. Pencil
3. Spreadsheet
4. Camera
5. Four types of sneakers (Osiris, no shoes, Jordan’s, regular sneakers)
6. Two people (Me, jumper, and recorder/photographer)
7. Clipboard or book
8. Duck Tape

Detailed Procedure:

1. Go outside onto my driveway with all materials.
2. Have the jumper on the first shoe to jump with.
3. Have the jumper stand next to the wall.
4. Mark where the knees should bend to so that your jump will stay constant.
   

5. Take your jump.
6. Record how high you jumped in centimeters on a spreadsheet.
7. Do the same thing for the rest of the shoes 10 times each.

Resources and Budget Table

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Background Research:

From doing my background research, I have learned about elastic potential energy. Elastic potential energy is what causes an object to get stretched or twisted. It makes the object change. In order for this to work, the object has to be able to go back to its original shape to store the elastic potential energy.
I have gone to other websites and they all say different things about if basketball shoes really do increase your jumping height. Some of them say that they don't make a difference and others say that they can. Some websites say that the shoes aren't the things making you jump higher. It's the muscle power and if you build up more muscle it will increase your jumping height. Others say that basketball shoes are a few ounces less than your regular every day sneakers so that's why they tend to make you jump higher than any other shoe. Since there is so much uncertainty, I want to try this for myself.

References:

1. Glencoe/McGraw-Hill, ed. Science Interactions. New York, NY: Glencoe, 1998. Print
2. Dominationtn, PopUp. "Can Basketball Shoes Help Jump Higher, Basketball Shoes | Vertical Jump Explosion." Vertical Leap Secrets,Increase Vertical Leap, How To Jum

p Higher. Web. 26 Jan. 2012. <http://verticalleapsecrets.com/blog/can-the-right-basketball-shoes-help-you-jump-higher/>.
3. "Are There Any Shoes That Make You ?" Jump Higher in Basketball. Web. 06 Feb. 2012. <http://jumphigherinbasketball.net/are-there-any-shoes-that-make-you-jump-higher-in-basketball/>.
4. "Do Basketball Shoes Make You Jump Higher? | LIVESTRONG.COM." LIVESTRONG.COM - Lose Weight & Get Fit with Diet, Nutrition & Fitness Tools | LIVESTRONG.COM. Web. 06 Feb. 2012. <http://www.livestrong.com/article/365078-do-basketball-shoes-make-you-jump-higher/>.

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Results

Data Table

Graphs

Photos

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Data Analysis

Conclusion

My hypothesis was that the Jordan basketball shoes would increase an athlete's jumping height the most. My results did not support my hypothesis. There was no relationship between my independent (type of shoe) and dependent (height jumped) variable. Some patterns and trends that my data showed was that the lighter the shoe was made me jump higher. This explains why wearing no shoes made me jump higher because there was no weight on my feet. I think that the tests I did went pretty smoothly with minor problems. It was hard to get the measurements exactly because the jump happened fast so my partner couldn't record the exact height that I jumped. Even though the not all the data was completely accurate, it was accurate enough to realize what shoe made you jump higher. If I could improve my experiment, I would have another person help out with getting the measurement so that maybe the data could be more accurate. An interesting future experiment would be to get different brands of basketball shoes and see which one out of those would make an athlete jump higher.

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Results

The original purpose of this experiment was to figure out which shoe design increased an athlete's jumping height the most. No shoes made me jump heigher but out of all the shoes the Jordan basketball shoes made me jump higher. The results of my experiment were that wearing no shoes made me jump the heighest. No shoes made me jump higher because there was no weight on my feet to hold me down. I figured out that that the shoes aren't what makes you jump heigher it's the muscle inside of your legs. The stronger your legs are the higher your jump will be.